Knighthood Orders

Knighthood Orders are more than just groups of mere knights; they are military organizations that include some of the most versatile and powerful units in the game. In addition, most Orders have a chapter in one of the cities.

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To join a Knighthood Order, you must have at least 500 renown and a fair amount of honor (the lowest required is 10, the most required is 25; see the individual order pages for requirements). You must also have positive relation with that Order (which is only really a problem with the Orders of the Dawn and Eventide). Once you meet these requirements, go to a city or castle where a chapter of the Order in question exists and speak to the knight there. You will then take part in an arena-style trial of arms against 3 of its knights.

If you win, you will be accepted as a member of that Order and be bestowed the title of "retainer", the lowest rank in any Order. As you progress through the Order, you will be given better armour and a trusty steed at higher ranks.

While you are able to quit from your Order (only if you aren't already leading it), doing so will harm your relations with all the other major Orders (-5) and you will lose honor.

Knighthood Orders may be built in castles or towns and are independent of other construction projects. Building a chapter costs 20,000 denars and requires a certain amount of honor (the same as to join the Order); you may also need a certain companion, the personal ownership of a certain city, or a Qualis Gem. Different cultures can obtain different Knighthood Orders; Ravenstern, the Fierdsvain and the D'Shar have one each, the Empire and Sarleon have two, Pendor has 7 and there is another Order not dependent on culture. Note that if you have a good relation with an Order, its chapters will automatically (but slowly) produce knights and sergeants. If you are sucessful in founding a chapter in a castle or town, a knight and a sergeant of the Order you have founded will replace the usual guards from the castle keep.

Knighthood Orders go hand in hand with the training grounds fief improvement; to obtain knights of an Order, you must first obtain top tier nobles of a certain faction. As noted before, only certain faction nobles will work for certain Orders. The church and shrine fief improvements are helpful for increasing your influx of nobles per week. Hiring noble recruits (the lowest tier of nobles) costs 500 denars per noble and can be done at any castle or town with a training grounds. Once they cannot be upgraded any further (i.e. Sarleon Knights, Valkyire), they can be upgraded into appropriate Order knights for a certain amount of prestige each. Prestige is essentially renown, but your renown is not penalized for upgrading knights; it is drawn from a separate pool. The cost in prestige is determined by your honor rating, your relation with the Order and the individual cost itself (which can vary from Order to Order).

All operations related to using a Knighthood Order can be done through the steward of your castle or town.

Unlike non-noble troops, you can choose to invest money, honor and prestige to upgrade your Order knights to make them more powerful. Keep in mind that if you choose to upgrade them, all the knights of that specific order get the additional upgrade, even those not belonging to you.

Each upgrade will increase the strength and the agility of the Order knights by 2 each. In addition, the upgrade will also increase all weapon proficiencies by 10 each. The first upgrade costs 10000 denars. Each subsequent upgrade costs twice what the previous upgrade cost.

As of Prophesy of Pendor v3.5, unique Order troops have been added to the module. Each Order, in addition to their regular knights, have a new troop that can be employed via the Order Bounty Quest or through the garrison of a fief that the player owns.

Keep in mind that these troops are not necessarily squires. Some of them are employed by the Orders. Whatever the reasons, these troops are not pushovers and some of them may even fulfill a combat role that the nobles of the Order lack.

As of PoP 3.6, the player has the ability to create a chapter of his or her very own custom Order. The requirements are a Qualis Gem, 20,000 denars, 70 honor and a walled fief (town or castle). Speak with the steward under the War Room tab.

Once you have selected the option to found the Order, you are given the opportunity to name the knights and its squires/sergeants.

Your new Order troops will start off with mediocre stats and negligible armor. Companions can be assigned to train them to boost their skills. Better weapons, armor and steeds can be purchased for the Order, but at an extremely hefty cost. Additionally, a substantial amount of time is required before all of the members of the Order are outfitted with such equipment. Note that the strength requirements of equipment applies to your order troops, so you may need to upgrade their level to give them sufficient strength before you will be able to see the higher level weapons and armor like Noldor armor as available options. Furthermore, items such as Noldor equipment have special requirements that must be satisfied to unlock them.

Certain Capturable Unique Spawns may be coerced into giving the secrets to their elite equipment.

Since upgrading your troops is a long process, it is recommend that you use companions with high training skill so as to reduce the time it takes.